Victoria Is Strange
by Gavinnersgroupie
Summary: Victoria tells Max a big secret. Max doesn't know how to deal with it and also doesn't know if Victoria is even telling the truth. And there is also the Chloe-problem... Multichap(hopefully). R&R please
1. Chapter 1

It was evening at Arcadia Bay and Max was heading back to her dorm. When she wanted to enter her room, she heard someone calling her name. She turned around and saw Victoria, waving at her.

"What do you want?", Max asked, feeling suspicious. Victoria shrugged and walked towards her.

"I just wanted to chat with you.", said Victoria. When she saw the look on Max's face, she sighed and put her hand on Max's shoulder. "I'm not up to anything, I swear."

"You swear?", Max asked and raised her eyebrow. She tilted her head to the right and stroked her chin. "…swear on what?"

Victoria rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Uhm… I don't know. My grandmother's grave." Max laughed and shook her head.

"It has to be something you actually care about.", Max said. "Otherwise I am not doing anything with you. You put me through enough shit already."

Victoria sighed. "Fine… I swear on… my dog's grave." She got annoyed when Max shot her a pitiful look. "Now, can we please go to my room?"

Max nodded. She still was a little concerned about Victoria's reason to chat. When they went into Victoria's room, Max noticed how clean the place was. And of course it was full of the most recent high-tech technology.

Victoria sat down on her bed. Max awkwardly stood by the door, not sure what to do. After a while the blonde girl said: "You're gonna sit or what?"

Max quickly sat down next to Victoria, then moved away from her a little, not sure how close Victoria wanted her to be.

"Okay, so... you and that blue-haired chick… you used to be close right?", Victoria asked. Jesus, this town _does_ know everything, Max thought. She didn't feel like telling Victoria the whole story, so she just gave her a small nod. "We are still close though.", Max added.

"Like… close-close?", Victoria asked. Max gave her a confused look. Victoria rolled her eyes. "Were you…ya know… gay for each other?"

Max' heart started beating faster. _Yeah, but it was one-sided… I think._ No, she couldn't tell Victoria that. No way. She just could not take that risk. Too dangerous.

"Are you kidding.", Max laughed nervously. "We were… _are_ close but just as friends. And Chloe likes the dudes, man." Okay, that was half a lie. Chloe and guys were not a good match. At all. She had dated boys in the past of course but they always ended up being total assholes. Which is why Chloe started to like the company of girls more.

"Chloe likes dudes, okay. But you don't?", Victoria asked. Shit. This whole situation made her so nervous she kept saying stupid shit. And she was probably blushing already, so she couldn't say that she did like boys. Ugh, why was Victoria bothering her with this?

"Hey it's okay!", Victoria said and put a hand on her shoulder. Max looked at her suspiciously. Victoria let out a sigh. "Listen Max, you're not alone. I…I think I might also be gay or something."

Max's mouth fell open. "You?! But… but… I thought you had a thing for Mr. Jefferson!"

Victoria sighed deeply.. "Yeah, I guess I'm bi or something. And yeah, I tried to get him to like me, but he wasn't interested."

Max giggled. "You think?" When Victoria glared at her, she quickly stopped grinning.

"But why do you think you're gay?", Max asked. Victoria looked down at her shoes and scratched her neck. Max had never seen her this nervous before. It was kinda cute actually.

"I like someone, okay.", Victoria said. She couldn't even look Max in the eyes anymore. Max tried not giggle. If she goes into bitch-mode again, I will soooo tease her with this, Max thought.

"Who is the lucky- I mean- unlucky one?.", Max asked Victoria while elbowing her. When Victoria didn't respond immediately, Max raised her eyebrow and asked: "Is it Chloe?"

Victoria sighed and shook her head. "No, goddamnit." She put her face in her hands. "It's you."


	2. Chapter 2

Max almost fell of the bed. "What?!" She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Victoria just stared at the ground.

"Why the _fuck_ are you always picking on me then?", Max asked. "If that's how show love then I don't want to know how you act when you hate someone."

"I _have_ to. People expect me to be a bitch to everyone, so if I'm nice to you…" Victoria said. "And if people find out I'm gay…" She started blushing. "You're not my first girlcrush you know…"

Hm, it seemed like Victoria was telling the truth. Max saw that Victoria was on the verge of tears. But Victoria was also good at acting, so... "So you're not making this up?"

"No, no…", she sniffed. "I swear. I swear…on my dog's grave." She laughed nervously. Max gave her a smile and pulled her into a hug.

"I'm glad you told me this.", Max said. "But… I don't know what to think right now. You have made me feel like shit sometimes and… it's just hard to trust you right now."

"I know and I'm sorry… Please…", Victoria sniffed. "Listen, I love everything about you, okay? Your photographs are awesome and I know I always make fun of your selfies, but I love all your work. I'm literal shit next to you. I have been such a bitter and jealous bitch to you. I hated that I couldn't tell you how I felt, because of my fucking social status. I hated how you were better then me. I hated the unfairness of it all. Shit, I know I fucked up, but… please give me one more chance?"

Max sighed. "I gotta think this over, okay? I'm sorry, but this is all very overwhelming for me." Victoria nodded. "I understand." When Max was about to leave, Victoria took a deep breath and said: "And i-if you change your mind… please come to the park after school tomorrow."

"Okay.", Max said and went to her own room. There, she collapsed on her bed. What a day. What a _week._

The next day during art class, Max noticed that Victoria wasn't her usual self. Mr. Jefferson had asked her two questions and she now got another one wrong.

"Well, Max, since your rival is not feeling herself today, can you help her out a little?", the teacher asked. "Can you tell who helped bringing photography to the mainstream and how?"

"Uhm, s-sure…", Max stuttered. "Uhm… George Eastman founded the Kodak Company and uhm… popularized the use of roll film, right?"

"Yes!", Mr. Jefferson said and smiled. "Glad to see you that you actually studied, Max. Unlike some others…"

Victoria groaned. "I _did_ study. I just…" When she saw the look Mr. Jefferson gave her, she sighed . "Never mind. Forget it."

Max felt bad for her. Why did Mr. Jefferson always have to mock the people who didn't know the answer?

The bell rang and Victoria immediately got up and ran out of the classroom. Her two minions Taylor and Courtney quickly followed her.

In the halls Max saw Victoria crying by her locker, while Taylor and Courtney tried to cheer her up.

Max took a deep breath and walked towards them. "Hey, Vic. I'm sorry for-" Taylor turned around and gave Max a firm push.

"Leave her alone, freak. The last person she wants to talk to right now is _you.",_ she snarled. Victoria stopped sniffing and shook her head.

"It's fine.", she murmured. "Don't worry about it. Now, can you please leave me be? All of you?"

Max nodded and decided to go outside. It was a beautiful day today. The sun was shining and people were relaxing on the grass. Max decided to lie down and think about what she should do. Well, it was a beautiful day and in 4 hours the school would end…

She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. It was a text from Chloe. "Hey, Maxx! Wanna hang out at my place after school?" Shit, Chloe. She had almost forgotten about her precious Chloe.

Max groaned. "Uuuugh…. Life, I hate you." Then she noticed that she had another unread message. It was from Victoria and she had sent it before class. The message was: "(heart) I REALLY DO LIKE YOU OK (heart)"

Max blushed. Oh, what the hell, she thought. I could always rewind. So she texted Chloe back: "Sorry dude. I have a date."


	3. Chapter 3

Class was over and Max was in the park, looking for Victoria. There weren't a lot of people here normally, so it should be easy to spot her.

She saw someone sitting on a bench, wearing a black hoodie and sunglasses. Could that be her? Max nervously approached the person. "Uh, hi…"

"Oh thank fucking god, I thought you weren't going to come!" Yep, that was Victoria. The girl got off the bench and gave Max a hug. "Wow, you look great!", she said.

Max grinned. "I'm still wearing the same clothes from before, but thanks. I like your outfit by the way. Lots of colors."

Victoria rolled her eyes. "Oh please, I'm only wearing this so nobody will recognize me. So… what are we gonna do?", she asked, sounding a little nervous. Max shrugged. She didn't really know what to do either.

"I did bring my camera with me...", Max said. "We could just walk and talk, while I take some pictures. It's beautiful around here."

Victoria shrugged. "Sure." So, they went to walk through the park, while Max sometimes stopped to take a picture of a bird or a butterfly.

Ten minutes later, the girls still hadn't said anything to each other. They just walked around aimlessly and after a while Max stopped taking pictures. But then Max saw something that hopefully would make this date more fun.

"Victoria, look!", Max said and she pointed towards the bench in front of them. On the bench sat a squirrel.

"Uh… I don't like squirrels, Max.", Victoria sighed. "They're gross." Max started laughing and shook her head.

"They're small animals, Vic. They really can't harm you. Trust me, they are more scared of you then you are of them.", she said. She put her school bag on the ground and took out her lunchbox. "But you can make them trust you."

Max threw some crumbs towards the bench and smiled when she saw the squirrel eating them. Victoria also thought it was kinda cute. "Can I try now?" Max nodded and gave her the lunchbox. She giggled when she saw how carefully Victoria was throwing the crumbs towards the squirrel.

I should take a picture, she thought and went to get her camera. When she took the picture, the squirrel fled and Victoria threw the last crumbs at Max. "He was trusting me, you asshole!"

"But look how cute you look!", Max said and she showed Victoria the picture. Victoria smiled and moved closer towards Max. "You're cute too, you know.", she whispered.

"Th…thanks…", Max stuttered. Then she felt Victoria's lips on hers. Her heart started beating incredibly fast. Oh my god, she thought. She's kissing me. I'm kissing _her,_ not Chloe and… I like it?!

Victoria's lips felt soft and it made Max feel tingly inside. She started slowly stroking Victoria's hair. Her hair also felt amazingly soft. Everything about her felt amazing.

When Victoria finally broke the kiss, she was looking worried. "I'm sorry if that was too fast, I just wanted to kiss you bad…"

"It's fine, it's fine!", Max said. "It was just… wow." They both started laughing nervously and were about to kiss again, when they heard something crack. Victoria was looking afraid and turned around, but then sighed in relief when she saw it was just a bird.

"I think we should go.", Victoria said. "As much as I love making out with you, it's getting dark and this place is starting to give me the creeps."

"It was just a bird!", said Max, who really wanted to kiss Victoria again. "And you don't have to be afraid of the dark, I will protect you."

"Thanks, Max. But I don't want you to get hurt. I know that sounds that weird coming from me, but… you know.", Victoria said. Max sighed and muttered 'okay'.

When they were outside the park, Victoria gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "I uh… I'll see you later?"

Max nodded. When she went on the bus back to school, she checked her phone. Two missed texts from Chloe. "Don't forget to use a condom ;)" and "Yo, dude how was your date?" Max smiled and texted back: "Best date ever."

She leaned back in her seat and thought about the kiss with Victoria. Her stomach started tingling again. No way in hell she would rewind this day.


	4. Chapter 4

It was Friday morning and Max had just woken up. "Good morning beautiful!", she texted Victoria. This week had been so great. Since the date, they had been texting each other non-stop and today they would go on a date again. Max just couldn't wait to kiss her again. After putting on her clothes and getting her bag, she went outside. There, she noticed that a lot of people were staring at her. What was up with that?

When she checked her phone, she saw that Victoria hadn't responded yet. That was also a little weird, normally Victoria was quick with responding. Max suddenly got a bad feeling about this. She saw that Warren had texted her: "Is it true? :("

"Is what true?", Max texted back. Her heart started pounding faster. She put her phone back inside her pocket and went inside the school building.

When she walked past a group of girls, she heard them whispering and giggling. Jesus christ, could someone tell her what the hell was going on already?!

At the end of the hall, there was a group of people gathered around the notice board. Victoria was standing there too, along with her two friends. Max walked towards them to see what they're looking at.

"Eww, don't touch me!", one girl said when Max accidentally bumped into her. Max ignored her and tried to see what was on the board. When she saw what it was, she almost fainted.

It was a picture of Max and Victoria kissing. Well, you couldn't see it was Victoria, since the photo was in black and white, but you could see it was a girl kissing Max.

"Too bad we can't see who that other girl in the picture is.", Taylor murmured. "Now almost every girl here is a suspect." Courtney, who was standing next to her, took a closer look at the picture.

"Don't you think she looks like a little like Victoria?", she asked. Taylor looked at her like she was nuts. Victoria also looked offended.

"That dyke looks _nothing_ like me. Also, why would I kiss Max out of all people?", Victoria growled.

Ouch. And of course, now the others noticed Max was there too. "Well, well. Looks like our hipsterdyke is here too.", Taylor said.

"That's such a lame insult.", Max said. She wanted to run away but two girls blocked her way out. She looked at Victoria, hoping she would do something to help her, but Victoria didn't move an inch. Then Taylor gave Max a push. Max stumbled backwards and fell on the floor. Everybody started laughing, except Victoria. So did she care or not? What was going on? Max got up, took a deep breath and then walked towards Victoria. "Say it. Or else I will."

"Say what?", Victoria said. "I don't have anything to say. You, however…" She nodded at the notice board and grinned. Max couldn't believe this girl was the same girl she had kissed earlier this week.

"You're in that picture. You kissed me! Come on, stop giving a shit about what these morons think of you!", Max yelled. For a moment, it was silent in the halls. Then everbody started laughing. Max had expected this, but she hoped Victoria would say that it was true. But, she didn't. What she did was far, far worse.

"Wow Max, I knew you were weird, but not this weird.", Victoria said. She laughed. "Fuck off, dyke." She turned around and walked away. Taylor grinned and whispered: "Go kill yourselfie." Then she and Courtney followed Victoria.

The others were still staring at Max, some of them were laughing. Max just stood there for a few seconds, letting it all sink in. "FUCK!", Max yelled suddenly and ran outside.

Back at her dorm room, she finally let the tears flow that she'd been holding back. Fuck, she thought. What am I going to do now?


	5. Chapter 5

It was Monday and Max had just crawled out of bed. Her weekend had been horrible. She had mostly just spent her time in bed, listening to music. She had gotten dozens of texts, but she only opened two. One was from Chloe and the other was from Victoria. Max wanted to delete her text at first, but she also was curious about what the text said. "IM SORRY" , was all the text said.

"Why did you do this to me? Was everything you told me a lie?", Max texted back. When Victoria didn't respond, she sent another text: "Please respond. I want to know what's going on." But she didn't get a response, so Max was even more confused now.

Chloe had asked her if she wanted to go to her place and talk, but Max said she just wanted to be left alone for now. So she had just stared at the ceiling while listening to sad music.

Before she left for school, Max checked her phone to see if she got any new messages. She had one from Chloe: "We should talk. Come to Two Whales Diner when you're done with school."

Max sighed and texted back: "Sorry Chloe, not in the mood for that." When she went outside, she felt her phone vibrate. It was Chloe again: "I won't take no for answer. Please don't shut me out, I want to help you. I'm your friend. BFFs remember?"

Aww, Chloe was so sweet. It was good to see at least someone still liked her here. Well, Warren liked her too but right now he was too busy freaking out over her being gay.

"Alright, I come. But first I have to survive school.", Max texted back. She put her phone away and took a deep breath. People were already looking at her and sniggering. Yeah, this day was going to suck.

"Yo Max, I'm glad to see you!", Chloe said, when she saw Max entering the Two Whales Diner later that day.

"Yeah, hi.", Max murmured and sat across Chloe. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. This was so embarassing. She didn't want to look like this in front of Chloe.

Chloe at first didn't say anything, she just ordered some pancakes and strong coffee for Max. "Seems like you need it.", she said. Max sniffed and nodded. School had been horrible. Someone had written DYKE on her locker and everyone acted like she had some sort of disease. Every day was going to be like this now. Max didn't know if she could handle that.

"Okay, tell me what's going on.", Chloe said and leaned back. "Who do I need to beat up for you?"

Max sighed. "Nobody. It's my own damn fault. You probably heard about it, I mean… Everybody has heard it about it. I think even the teachers are fucking judging me."

"Yes, there are rumors going around about you, but you know I don't listen to rumors and especially not if they're about my best friend.", Chloe said. "Now tell me what's up." She took a bite of her pancake, while she was waiting for Max to answer.

"Okay, well…", Max sighed. "About a week ago, Victoria told me… she told me that she had a crush on me. I first didn't believe her, but she started crying and told me all the things she liked about me, about how much she struggled…. It sounded like she was telling the truth." She took a sip of her coffee. "So we had a date in the park the next day and we kissed… It felt nice and I felt so happy… and then Friday at school, someone had put pictures of us kissing on the notice board. Apparently some creep had been stalking us when we went on a date. Anyway, I hoped Victoria would tell the others that she was the one kissing me, but she didn't. She just humiliated in front of everyone and now…" Max started crying. God, she felt awful.

Chloe looked upset too. "Max.", she said and touched her hand. "I'm so sorry that shit happened to you. You don't deserve that."

"I do.", Max sniffed. "I mean, it's Victoria we're talking about here. She's just a heartless bitch."

Chloe nodded absently. "Hey, uhm… have you heard anything from her after that?"

"She only sent me this message that said 'I'm sorry'.", Max sighed. "When I asked why she had done this to me, she didn't respond."

"Okay.", Chloe said. "You're not going to like this but… I saw her here yesterday. She was with Nathan and he was being all flirty."

Max almost choked on her pancake. "What?! She was with Nathan? She fucking dumped me for Nathan?"

"Hey, hey, I only saw Nathan being a flirting creep. Victoria didn't seem very interested in him.", Chloe said. "But you know… it reminds me of Rachel. We were also… pretty close and then she suddenly dumped me for some dude."

"At least Rachel had the decency to leave a note.", Max muttered. "At least she didn't humiliate in front of the whole school."

"Well, she is missing now, so it's not really all _that_ great.", Chloe growled and took a huge sip of her coffee. Max immediately regretted her words.

"I'm sorry, Chloe.", Max said. "I know how much she meant to you and I just hope everything is alright with her…

"I hope so too.", Chloe sighed. She got her phone out of her pocket. "By the way I also need to tell you something else. Someone texted me this earlier…" She gave Max her phone.

"Please tell Max I'm sorry. I can't tell you why I did all these things, but please tell her I'm sorry. And tell her I do love her but that it's complicated. I'm sorry." Max couldn't see who sent it, but it had to be from Victoria.

"I have no idea what's going on her but you should try to find out.", Chloe said. "Keep sending her messages, snoop around in her room… I have a feeling she might become the next Rachel.'

"Shit…", Max murmured. She finished the rest of her coffee and got up. "Thanks for the advice, Chloe. I'll try to find out what's going on."

Chloe also got up and gave Max a pat on the back. "No problem, Max. I hope everything goes alright. And if anyone is bothering you, give me a call. I'll deal with them."

Max laughed and nodded. She was glad that she had her best friend back.

On the bus back to school, Max was thinking about the text Victoria had sent. She had said she loved her. But why couldn't she tell Max anything? This wasn't just about her being afraid of coming out. Had Nathan something to do with it?  
I don't know what's going on, Victoria, Max thought. But don't worry. I'm going to help you.


End file.
